Let the Morning Come
by E. Caufield
Summary: "Turn off all the lights and let the morning come." Losing love before you ever really had it. SwanQueen. Based off a tune and the 2x22 promo.


A/N: I haven't written in ages. SQ is one hell of a fandom and I hope I don't disappoint. Inspiration for this comes from "_Over the Love" _by _Florence + The Machine, _and you'll see some of the lyrics in here in bold. Everything canon up until 2x21 and from the promo for 2x22, in the mines.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Regina stood before the trigger, trying to contain the powerful magic. It reminds her of the day she unleashed the curse. The moments in Snow White's castle right before she stole everyone's happy ending; how the magic had swirled around her, wind whipped about, and all she could feel was _power._

The difference between then and now is that she's giving instead of taking now. She's trying to give her son a chance; a chance to survive, to live a life where he's loved. But this fail safe that she built in is too much for her. She had created it with purpose. At the time she never expected to love again, she didn't expect to have a child, a _family_. And now Regina is panicking. If she fails at this, fails to contain the trigger then the one thing, the one _person_ that she loves the most will be hurt. _Destroyed_.

And there it is, another surge of protective magic flowing through her fingertips. She must contain this; she has to, for Henry. Or….

Or… hold it off long enough for Emma and the two idiots to get her son to safety. She can feel the dark magic start to counter act her protective magic. She tried absorbing it and that had nearly killed her. At least this way she can buy more time for everyone to get to safety.

"Damn," feeling the white hot ache from the trigger's dark magic crawl its way through her fingers and up her arms. The structure of the mine isn't going to hold for long at this rate, she hopes that she has bought enough time. The memories of her past hit her full force. Everything she witnessed and acts she had committed.

_**And I don't want to see what I've seen.**_

Daniel, she had loved him so. He had told her to love again before she had to see him die a second time, that time by her hand.

Her mother had told her that her love would have been enough to prevent years of hurt and pain and destruction; minutes from dying in Regina's arms.

Her father had urged her to stop her destructive path before it was too late, and that had been right before she ripped his heart out. He had urged the same way Emma Swan had urged her to stop before it was too late; before she lost her son forever. And how she wished she had listened. If she had listened to Emma she never would have retrieved the trigger, and if she hadn't retrieved the trigger it never would have fallen in to the wrong hands. Worse hands than her own.

To undo what has been done.

This trigger and what it entails is a fitting end for her she thinks. All the crimes she had committed, all the families torn apart for so long, all the hearts she had ripped out. The irony of the Evil Queen saving the people she had cursed in the first place, a shame that no one won't read about _that _in any storybook.

"Regina!" The voice of the Savior startling Regina out of her concentration on the trigger and her thoughts.

"And just what the Hell do you think you're doing here when you're supposed to be getting _my son_ to safety, Miss Swan!?" The break in Regina's concentration causing another shift in the tunnel; rocks were tumbling down from the walls now and it was only a matter of time for the fairy dust veins to be exposed, further complicating the problem at hand.

"I promised Henry I would- I needed to see… I need to help you. You can't just..," Emma stuttered, face covered with panic as her eyes darted from Regina's to the ceiling of the mine tunnel. The mine wasn't going to last much longer and Regina needed Emma to get the hell out of there. She needed Emma to get Henry out of Storybrooke. Emma's demeanor unsettled Regina. She had never seen the other woman so unsure.

"You can't just what? No, Emma, you need to go! I'm begging you, take Henry and get to Hook's ship. I don't know how far the trigger's radius is going to be and there is no telling what it's going to do to this realm." Regina voiced was strained and began to waver; it had been so long since she had pushed her magic to these limits.

"To where? The Enchanted Forest? Neverland?" Emma shouted in question. Despite Regina's pleas she was made her way around the waves of magic coming of the trigger.

"Wherever that double crossing pirate will take you! Just go already, you're wasting time!"

Emma reached out to touch Regina on her wrist. A pulse resounded around them in a white light as the trigger dimmed. Both women had confusion and surprise etched on their faces.

"Was that…?" Emma asked. Her eyes searched Regina's face as her grip on the other woman's wrist tightened. "Did we just-?"

"Not quite. Maybe if… Maybe if we had had more time, more time to…," Regina whispered, her voice laced with sorrow and regret.

"To fall in love." Emma whispered, as realization dawned on her features.

Tears lined the back of Regina's eyes as she looked away from Emma. This was not the time to crumble and lament over love lost, or possible love at the very least.

Emma closed in on Regina, one hand still had a hold Regina's wrist and the other cupped the back of the older woman's neck as Emma brought Regina to her in a desperate kiss. There it was, another pulse in white magic; too weak to break the trigger but enough to recharge Regina's magic. The warmth was almost overwhelmed her. Regina had never experienced this side of the magical spectrum. Pure Magic rushed through her, all of her nerves tingling at once.

"I can't leave you. Not like this."

"Emma, go, please. For Henry, for my… for _our son._"

"But I felt that, you felt that. You're- we're…"

"You can't force someone to love," Regina said resting her forehead against Emma's. "With that little bit of white magic from you, I should be able to buy you enough time to get Henry… and your parents and get out of Storybrooke."

Emma nodded in defeat as she accepted her and Regina's separate fates. Her eyes red rimmed as the tears welled.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered before pressing one last kiss against Regina's lips.

"Don't be."

_**Turn off all the lights and let the morning come.**_

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**Ok now, you gotta let me know how I did. These writing fingers are really rusty. Thanks for reading. **


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